Community Meeting - Meet Your BPD Area Coordinator and PG&E Pipeline in Berkeley

What: Community Meeting to introduce our new BPD Area 4 Coordinator and to discuss the PG&E pipeline in Berkeley

Date: September 13th, 2011

Time: 6pm - 8pm

Location: Rosa Parks Elementary Multipurpose Room, 920 Allston Way

I just wanted to remind you all that we have an upcoming meeting for community members to meet our new Berkeley Police Department Area 4 Coordinator, Officer Cesar Melero and to discuss the natural gas pipelines that run through Berkeley.

Officer Melero was selected by the Berkeley Police command staff to replace Officer Karen Buckheit who has completed her 3 plus years in the Community Services Bureau and rotated back to patrol.

To discuss the natural gas pipeline system in Berkeley, I have invited a representative from PG&E, the Fire Chief and City Manager to discuss safety precautions, the City's disaster response capabilities, and any other questions or concerns that residents might have.

Hope you all can make it.

Berkeley Patients Group Community Picnic

Berkeley Patients Group is holding their inaugural community picnic. In appreciation of the 10 years of support from the community, Berkeley Patients Groups is starting an annual tradition of hosting a picnic for our neighbors in the multi-purpose room of the Frances Albrier Center, located in San Pablo Park.

The City of Berkeley Police Department (BPD) Crime Analysis and Records Units have completed work on crime statistics for the first six (6) months of 2011.

Based on preliminary FBI Uniform Crime Statistics (UCR), for the first six months of 2011, Part One Violent Crime in Berkeley declined by 4% while Part One Property Crime declined by 16%. Part One Crime includes Homicide, Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Theft, Auto Theft and Arson. Based on preliminary data for 2010 and the first few months of 2011, decreases in Part One Property Crime appear to be ahead of both state and national trends.

While violent crime is of paramount concern, the City of Berkeley Police Department has increased its efforts in dealing with the significant level of property crime in the City. The most common crime, theft, is frequently a crime of opportunity with suspects focusing on personal property (e.g., GPS, laptops, smart phones, purses) left unattended or left visible in parked vehicles.

To address this, the BPD is employing multiple strategies including focused attention in areas and at times where crimes are occurring, multiple weekly crime analysis meetings and concentrated efforts on habitual offenders. In addition, BPD is working with the District Attorney to encourage a priority in charging and stronger sentences for chronic offenders. Finally, BPD is working with the University of California Police Department (UCPD) to educate students on the small lifestyle changes that can lessen their chances of being victimized.

Part One Crime-January-June, 2011

Homicide-down 1 case or 50% (2010-2 / 2011-1)

Rape-up 4 cases or 36% (2010-11 / 2011-15)

Robbery-down 5 cases or 3% (2010-155 / 2011-150)

Aggravated Assault-down 9 cases or 12% (2010-73 / 2011-64)

Burglary-up 3 cases or 0.6% (2010-503 / 2011-506)

Auto Theft-up 22 cases or 8% (2010-292 / 2011-314)

Theft-down 524 cases or 23 % (2010-2186 / 2011-1662)

Arson-up 5 cases or 50% (2010-10 / 2011-15)

Berkeley Shoreline Maintenance Construction

PROJECT: The City of Berkeley has hired Team Ghilotti to replace old culverts and add additional gravel, rock and boulders (rip-rap) along the shore where the old shoreline has settled into the Bay.

LOCATION: 300' of shoreline along the southeast shoreline and 900' along the west shoreline.

TIMELINE: Mobilization, delivery and construction is scheduled to start on September 12th, 2011. Barring unforeseen problems or weather conditions, this work will be completed by late October. Work hours will be 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., Monday-Friday.

The perimeter trail will be closed adjacent to the worksite from Monday through Friday. The perimeter trail will be open on weekends when possible. Please watch for uneven pavement and loose gravel. Detours signs will be posted during closures.

POSSIBLE INCONVENIENCES: Pedestrian access to various areas of the Cesar Chavez Park will be periodically restricted or limited. In order to complete the work, crews will need to transport heavy equipment and loads of rock and gravel across the Park. Park users should know that access might be prohibited for periods of time during the operations. Parking, dumpsters, bike racks and portable toilets will be unaffected during the construction. Picnic tables and barbeques along the east shore may need to be removed or moved during construction.

Cesar Chavez Park users

ACTIONS:
· Keep all dongs on leash until safely within the Off Leash Dog Area, heavy equipment will be using the pathway across the Park adjacent to the Off Leash Area.
· Do not allow dogs to run near or across the path of heavy equipment.
· Keep dogs away from the construction to assure their safety and that of workers.
· Keep children away from work area.
· Watch out for trucks and heavy equipment at all times.
· Please observe all detours and prohibited area signs.
· Do not move displaced picnic tables or BBQs

After work hours and for emergencies, please call Public Works Customer Service at 510-981-6620 or the Marina Office at 510-981-6740.

Stop Accidental Poisonings!

We are lucky to have Cooper Hawks and Barn Owls in our community. They eat enormous numbers of rats and mice. Even with this critical help from hawks and owls, there will always be some rats and mice here and an effective way to reduce the populations further is to set out snap traps. Recent improvements in snap traps make them more effective, easy to use, and much easier to set and dispose of the animals. Find spat traps at your local hardware stores. If you use baits such as D-Con, Havoc, Tomcat Ultra and Just One Bite, which contain brodifacoum and/or bromadiolone, can set back collective efforts to control rodents. These baites are particularly toxic and accumulate in the blood of the rodents. If eaten by owls or hawks, they often die due tot he poison in their prey's blood. Cats or dogs that may eat poisoned rodents can also be poisoned. There have been a number of poison deaths of Coopers Hawks and pets in recent years.

What Works:

Remove piles of yard debris, trash, and construction waste where rats and mice make their homes

Don't leave pet food outside

Seal openings around your home so rodents don't get into your house with metal "hardware cloth" screening, concrete or Stuf-fit copper mesh wool.

Seek the help of a professional Integrated Pest Management (IPM) pest control company

Use snap traps with peanut-butter bait inside bait boxes so as to not accidentally trap a pet, bird or squirrel.